Lots and lots of money has been made in local real estate in recent years. And in some ways, the dollars involved are almost unfathomable.

I filled my trusty spreadsheet with stats from the Real Estate Research Council of Southern California detailing changes in the total value of Southern California County’s housing stock — detached and attached residences, but not apartments — in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. Here’s what I learned about big profits.

Total housing values in the four-county region rose by $237 billion in the year ended in June — a 9.2 percent gain. That’s a stunning number to comprehend, so I’ve tried to make that upswing simpler.

If we spread the gain over the region’s populace, it equals $13,075 for each of the 18.1 million residents, even those who don’t own a home.

Compare it with the yearly business output of a state and our local real estate dollars run on par with Connecticut’s overall economy.

Or you can break down this year of significant appreciation by time. It’s equal to gains of $7,502 per second in the 12 months. Yes, per second! Or $450,152 per minute. Or $27.1 million an hour. Or $648 million a day.

If these increases in local real estate values are still too big to fathom, then it’s equally daunting to grasp the value of all this housing in the four-county region: $2.8 trillion.

That’s roughly equal to the market value of all the publicly traded companies on France’s stock markets. Or it approximates the market values of Wall Street giants Apple, Amazon and Alphabet (owner of Google).

Here’s how housing’s gains broke down, by county, in Southern California …

Los Angeles County: Up $142 billion in 12 months — that’s new real estate wealth equal to $13,798 per resident or $4,500 per second or the annual output of the District of Columbia’s economy. That’s a 9.18 percent gain to $1.69 trillion, a total equal to Switzerland’s overall stock market capitalization. Or roughly the combined value of Microsoft, Berkshire Hathaway and Exxon Mobil.

Orange County: Up $52 billion — $16,237 per resident or $1,658 per second or how much Montana’s creates each year. That’s an 8.74 percent gain to $650.4 billion, equal to Russia’s stock market worth. Or loosely speaking, what Facebook plus Johnson & Johnson equals.

Riverside County: Up $25 billion — $10,182 per resident or $780 per second or the size of Santa Barbara’s economy. That’s a 10.28 percent gain to $263.8 billion, equal to Norway’s stock market worth. Or approximately Wal-Mart’s market capitalization.

San Bernardino County: Up $18 billion — $8,184 per resident or $564 per second or the size of Modesto’s economy. That’s a 9.59 percent gain to $203.4 billion, equal to Poland’s stock market worth. Or in the ballpark of Boeing’s price tag.

Remember, real estate is big business — and homeownership is a pretty good way to build wealth.

Jonathan Lansner has been the Orange County Register's business columnist since 1997 and has been part of the newspaper's coverage of the local business scene since 1986. He is a native New Yorker who is a past national president of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Jon lives in Trabuco Canyon -- yes, a homeowner -- and when he's not fiddling with his trusty spreadsheet at work you can likely find him rooting for his beloved Anaheim Ducks or umpiring local lacrosse games.